High school cross country: Black River boys second, girls third at LCL meet

HENRIETTA TWP. — Saturday morning was successful for the Black River cross country teams at the Lorain County League Meet. Both teams put in strong showings, with the boys taking second place and the girls third. "They all ran awesome today," coach Steve Rhein said. "All seven boys medaled, and all five girls finished in the top 21, so I'm really proud of them." The Pirates had two runners finishing in the top 10 of each race, as well as 12 combined in the top 25. Connor Rhein led the boys, finishing second with a time of 16:51.1, 26 seconds behind Keystone's Jamie Yuronich. It was Rhein's second straight runner-up finish and third straight year in the top three. "I wanted to win, and to not even get close, it feels terrible," he said. "I went out way too fast, and my body just died." "He's got a little bit of tired legs right now," Steve Rhein added. "His ultimate goal is to go back to states and be all-state, so it was just a little bit slower than he anticipated. Jamie ran a great race. He went out hard and made Connor try to chase him down." While disappointed with his performance, Rhein was happy with the way the rest of his team competed. Senior Noah Orgel took sixth with a 17:23.9. "The whole team had a really good day except me," Rhein said. "So that's really good." On the girls side, the Pirates were led by sophomore Jade Mitchell, who finished seventh in 22:08.4, and freshman Scarlett Olive, who placed ninth at 23:15.3. "That was one amazing race for the girls," Steve Rhein said. "I can't tell you the last time we had five medalists here. The girls ran really well. I told them they had a shot to be top three in the conference this year with the way they were running." Though just a sophomore, Mitchell, who also took seventh at last season's meet, has had to step into a much bigger role to replace close friend and 2024 LCL champion Olivia Szmania. "She learned a lot from Olivia last year," Steve Rhein said. "We took a little bit of a different approach this summer. We bumped up the intensity and miles, and she's become a really great team leader." "I've been working so hard," Mitchell said. "After my best friend graduated, I've been really putting forth the effort this year, and I'm so happy I got another top-10 finish." Mitchell was the oldest of the Pirates' top finishers, with freshmen Scarlett Olive and Ella McCann taking ninth and 16th, respectively. Despite a successful conference meet, the Pirates are focused on their ultimate goals of getting to the regional and state meets. "The season's gone very well," Connor Rhein said. "I've been in the top five for almost every meet. The times haven't been there, but I've been doing really hard training and I've been running on tired legs for a while now, so I'm hoping that once I start tapering for a couple weeks, I can get on the podium in November." Contact William Cunningham at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings: 1. Keystone 24, 2. Black River 53, 3. Oberlin 66, 4. Firelands 104, 5. Wellington 143, 6. Brookside 148, 7. Columbia 191. Black River (53) — 2. Connor Rhein 16:51.1, 6. Noah Orgel 17:23.9, 12. Kolby Manges 18:08.1, 16. Lucas Olive 18:18.0, 17. Kyle Vonderau 18:24.9, 19. Logan Rhein 18:39.7, 21. Archer Combs 18:46.5. GIRLS Standings: 1. Firelands 45, 2. Oberlin 47, 3. Black River 64, 4. Keystone 89, 5. Wellington 94. Black River (64) — 7. Jade Mitchell 22:08.4, 9. Scarlett Olive 23:15.3, 16. Ella McCann 24:07.2, 17. Ruby Johnston 24:30.3, 18. Hailey Lambdin 24:32.0, 27. Rylee Howard 28:22.93, 35. Ava Workinger 29:55.53, 41. Grace Brown 32:41.39.